How to correct super soft paint?

T

TheTick

New member
Joined
Nov 28, 2008
Messages
50
Reaction score
0
I've had great success using a PC and menzerna polishes on my friends and family's cars. So I felt really confident when my buddy asked me to help him do his car. It's a aftermarket paint job and thats all he knows about it. It had really bad swirls and water spots so I started with a 5.5 orange pad and SIP. I was surprised at how fast it corrected considering how bad the swirls were. I suspected it was very soft paint.

After the SIP the finish did look a million times better, but when I inspected with a halogen, there was lots of micro marring. So now I go to a white pad and 106fa which made it much better but still tons of micro marring. I then switch to a blue pad and hit it again with 106fa and again, better but still very visible micro marring under halogens. I tried several spots with varying pressure and nothing helped.

At this point, I had used my softest pad and finest polish so I figured it was hopeless. Just to see what would happen, I took white pad that was wet after cleaning and manually rubbed around on the hood and it scratched it all up. I then took my microfiber cloth and rubbed the paint hard with my finger. This also scratched the heck out of it. Should I just stop while I'm ahead?
 
micro marring is a PIA. if i were you i would try an extremly gentle cleaner/polish by hand and see if it works. i have found great success with:

Megs Color X
Megs Scratch X
Megs number 9 swirl remover
 
This is where you are going to have to play around with different pads and polish. Plus it might take three steps with one pad/polish combo then move to something lighter and lighter till you get to your finishing polishing step.
 
85RD and a finishing pad works great for my Honda's soft paint with my UDM....Also i use Sonus paint work cleaner on finishing pad to clean oils from 85RD and get a perfect finish.....
 
It's kinda the nature of the beast with soft paint that just about anything will do some kind of marring. You won't get it 100% perfect, but you'll get close. To get it as close as possible with my NHBP paint from Honda I downgrade all pads in aggressiveness. IE Orange becomes white, white becomes gray/black, etc. For my final polish I use 85RD and a Blue or Red pad and a Supreme 530's to remove the polish since they are super plush! About the best I can find to get it really close. I'd say I hit about 85 to 90%. But it doesn't last long on a daily driver with soft paint either.
 
nrengle said:
It's kinda the nature of the beast with soft paint that just about anything will do some kind of marring. You won't get it 100% perfect, but you'll get close. To get it as close as possible with my NHBP paint from Honda I downgrade all pads in aggressiveness. IE Orange becomes white, white becomes gray/black, etc. For my final polish I use 85RD and a Blue or Red pad and a Supreme 530's to remove the polish since they are super plush! About the best I can find to get it really close. I'd say I hit about 85 to 90%. But it doesn't last long on a daily driver with soft paint either.
Click to expand...
i agree on the last part.....I have the same paint on my Accord (TSX) and it is a nightmare keeping it swirl free....It is so soft that a breeze with dust can swirl it :D:D
 
Thanks for all the input guys. This was a project car for a import tuner magazine so the paintjob was free. Who know what kind of paint they used, but it is waaaaay softer than the honda paint that I have seen. I can easily write my name on the car with my fingernail.

Either way, we were able to easily remove 95% of the swirls, but the car was soo terribly bad to begin with that the last 5% is still pretty visible in the sun. My buddy was still happy since it looked a million times better. He understands that he'll just have to be more careful with the car and that the swirls will come back pretty soon.
 
Ive learned that the PC is your friend with these types of paints. You also MUST wipe the section down with alcohol every time after you polish it.
 
nrengle said:
It's kinda the nature of the beast with soft paint that just about anything will do some kind of marring. You won't get it 100% perfect, but you'll get close. To get it as close as possible with my NHBP paint from Honda I downgrade all pads in aggressiveness. IE Orange becomes white, white becomes gray/black, etc. For my final polish I use 85RD and a Blue or Red pad and a Supreme 530's to remove the polish since they are super plush! About the best I can find to get it really close. I'd say I hit about 85 to 90%. But it doesn't last long on a daily driver with soft paint either.
Click to expand...
You are right on the money......with soft paint....been there and done that one.......Several times.......lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top